Rutgers resumes take-out meals policy

NEW BRUNSWICK -- Rutgers University is expanding anti-hunger efforts, thanks to a bunch of rabble-rousing youth.

What started last week as an encounter between activists and police ended this morning, with the university agreeing to let students donate more to a local soup kitchen, and the creation of a committee of students and officials next semester to study the structure and pricing of the university’s meal plans.

Frank H. Conlon/The Star-LedgerA Rutgers student makes a sandwich in the takeout station on the Douglass campus of Rutgers University. After changing their take-out policy last week in an attempt to prevent students from donating extra meals to a nonprofit organization started by a student, Rutgers is again allowing students to get two takeout meals per visit at campus dining halls.

The dispute started on Dec. 9, when university officials summoned police to stop a dozen students and former students in a dining hall from soliciting students to donate extra meals to the needy. Lashing back, the young group criticized the university for not letting students use meals they’ve already paid for to go to a good cause.

But the warring sides in the campus food fight struck a deal this morning.

The students agreed to stop their solicitations on campus. And the university agreed to let students donate money out of their meal plan -- up to as many as 10 meals a semester, worth $3 each -- to Elijah’s Promise, a local soup kitchen, one of the biggest in the state.

Also this morning, university officials rescinded a new policy instituted last week designed to blunt the activists’ effort, a ban on allowing students to buy two takeout meals. Officials had cited food safety reasons for the ban.

The new funds for Elijah’s Promise "couldn’t come at a better time," said Lisanne Finston, director of the kitchen. The kitchen serves 2,000 meals a week, up roughly 20 percent compared with a few years ago because of the soured economy, she said. Finston couldn’t accept the Rutgers meals because of food safety concerns. The soup kitchen only serves food prepared on site.

Today outside Brower Commons dining hall on College Avenue, several students who had joined the anti-hunger group, called "Operation Robin Hood," said they wanted to help the needy while protesting what they consider to be the university’s overpriced dining plans.

University officials have countered the claim, saying the price of the plans are based on the average number of meals a student eats. For example, the 210-meal plan is priced for just 147 meals because that’s the number of meals the average student eats in a semester.

Rutgers already runs two charitable programs that aid in the anti-hunger effort, "Rutgers Against Hunger," which raised $107,000 and collected 27 tons of food since its creation last year, and "Meal Swipe For Charity," which allows students to donate one meal swipe per semester to a charity selected by the Rutgers University Student Assembly.

Rutgers Dining Services is the third-largest student dining operation in the country, operating five student dining facilities and serving over 4.5 million meals annually.